# Assistant advertising has to protect user trust

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/assistant-advertising-has-to-protect-user-trust/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Demis Hassabis](https://realalpha.app/builders/demis-hassabis/) · Demis Hassabis is CEO of Google DeepMind.
- Host: [Alex Kantrowitz](https://realalpha.app/people/alex-kantrowitz/) · Founder, Big Technology · Former BuzzFeed News senior tech reporter and author of Always Day One.
- Show: Big Technology Podcast
- Episode: [Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis: AI's Next Breakthroughs, AGI Timeline, Google's AI Glasses Bet](https://realalpha.app/v/bgBfobN2A7A/), Jan 23, 2026
- Moment: 15:40 to 18:24 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/assistant-advertising-has-to-protect-user-trust/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/bgBfobN2A7A/?t=940

## Quote

> “the most important thing trust okay so **trust and security and privacy** um because you want to share potentially your life with that assistant”
> — [Demis Hassabis](https://realalpha.app/builders/demis-hassabis/) at [16:57](https://realalpha.app/v/bgBfobN2A7A/?t=1017) · Big Technology Podcast

## Takeaways

1. Google has no current plans to put ads in Gemini.
2. Trust, security and privacy are central to an assistant.
3. Ads must not blur why a recommendation is being made.

## About this segment

Demis Hassabis says Google has no current Gemini ad plans, but any assistant advertising must protect trust. Users need to know why a recommendation is being made.

From “Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis: AI's Next Breakthroughs, AGI Timeline, Google's AI Glasses Bet”, Jan 23, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/bgBfobN2A7A/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[15:45](https://realalpha.app/v/bgBfobN2A7A/?t=945) for glasses let's talk about ads sure it's the timing right for ads um let me set it yes okay um there's been some news that jim and i might include ads there's been some news that some of your competitors. I'd include ads. The funniest thing I saw about that on social media was someone who said these people are nowhere close to AGI. It's not going to be this world disrupting technology if the business model is advertising. Yeah, well, it's interesting. I think those are tells on, you know, I think actions speak louder than words going back to the original conversation we were having with, you know, Sam and others claiming AGI is around the corner. Why would you bother with ads then? So that is, I think, a reasonable question to ask. But I think, look, from our point of view, we have no plans at the moment to do ads if you're talking about the

[16:39](https://realalpha.app/v/bgBfobN2A7A/?t=999) Gemini app, right, specifically. I think we are going, obviously, we're going to watch very carefully what, you know, the outcome of what ChatGPT is saying they're going to do. I think has to be handled very carefully because the dichotomy i see is that um uh uh if you if you want an assistant that works for you what is the most important thing trust okay so trust and security and privacy um because you want to share potentially your life with that assistant then you want to be confident that it's it's working on your you know behalf and uh and and with your best interests and so you know you've got to be careful i think there are ways one could do it but you'll be careful that it doesn't the advertising model doesn't bleed into that and confuse the the user uh as to what you know what is this assistant recommending you and i think um

[17:32](https://realalpha.app/v/bgBfobN2A7A/?t=1052) you know that's going to be interesting challenge in that space and that's what's not to do and sudar in a recent earnings call said there are some ideas within google of the right way to approach this sure how do you approach advertising well um you know that's still we're still brainstorming that but i think it's i think it's um there are also you know very interesting ways when if you think about glasses devices there are other revenue models out there okay um so you know it's going to be interesting to see i don't think we've made any strong conclusions on that but it's an area that uh needs very careful thought just to get a definitive answer from you i think you've given it but i'm just going to do it one more time i read before we met google has told advertisers in recent days from last year

[18:11](https://realalpha.app/v/bgBfobN2A7A/?t=1091) that it plans to bring ads to its AI chatbot Gemini in 2026? Nope. We have no current plans. That's all I can say. All right. That's pretty definitive. Yep. All right.